Q: My daughter is 5 years old, she is our only child. There is a classmate of my daughter who also stays in the same building, they even travel together. My daughter is quite influenced by her (like my daughter would stop talking with others in case she is told to do so by this friend of hers). All this is affecting me and I think my daughter's confidence. Please advise as to what should I do?

A:Children love to have friends. Sometimes, a friend can be more important than anyone else. In the same way, something a teacher says may be treated by the child as more important than what the mother says. All these are aspects of growing up and not of long term consequence. Maybe you should try not to control every activity of your child, but give her some freedom to make her own choices, provided she is not coming to any harm. You could organise games and other activities for a group of children of your daughter's age, so that she gets to meet several others.